"Master, something is off about the man to your left..."
A grayish-white bird with black stripes across its eyes and wings, perched on Amelia Edemsworth's shoulder, hopped closer and whispered into her ear.
"...with Oliver…? Not with Saria…?"
Amelia didn't show any indication of how shocked she was, but she did swallow her saliva as if in distress and muttered barely audibly so only her contracted fae would hear it.
"Yes, I'm certain. But he's doing something with the inscribed pages that the ice girl has been using. The ones she filled with patterns she injected with mana, but which didn't activate a spell."
"..."
There was no doubt in the fae's voice, making Amelia slightly squint her eyes.
She remembered clearly that in the story bestowed to her in a dream by a Grand Fae, the accident during the presentation was supposed to be a mishap on Saria Vallhall's side. There was nothing about ather party's involvement…
That said, to even make that very story itself happen, Amelia had to introduce the biggest change, the one sitting right next to her.
In that case, was the current situation caused by how she influenced the story herself, or was it actually how it was supposed to be, with the real culprit using Saria as a scapegoat…?
"For now, nothing changes. Be ready to rush into action and quell the raging mana at my signal."
"Understood, master!"
Anyhow, Amelia ended up breathing out and instructing her fae, causing it to ruffle its feathers and already start spreading its wings halfway.
"..."
…Blanid… should she warn her things were going off script…?
No, it was too soon for that. In the story, the character of Amelia Edemsworth was supposed to quell the problem, aided by her contracted fae, sure, but no one else…
The actual Amelia thought while also bracing herself for whatever additional danger the event would bring.
She wasn't the same as what her character in the story was, after the Grand Fae blessed her with the prophetic story that would prevent her world's destruction she has been training and preparing… and thanks to her family's wealth, her actual prowess with magic had already surpassed a handful of teachers at the Royal Academy, and her power only grew since making a contract with Butch.
While she wasn't stronger than the teacher who organized the presentation, that was actually reassuring, considering the situation.
It meant that even if the event went wildly out of control, there was someone who would be able to save her in the worst-case scenario.
…still, Amelia couldn't get rid of the bad feeling gnawing on her stomach like an annoying mosquito…
"..."
While making sure that no one was paying attention, she began chanting spells under her breath, putting them on stand-by, either behind her or under the table she and other participants were seated by, as it was tactfully covered from the front to not put the young ladies in a compromising situation.
"..."
"..."
The thing was, she wasn't the only one muttering something. It appeared that Oliver had said something to Saria, something that caused the silver-haired girl's expression to darken, and the gaze of her golden eyes turned sharp.
"Teacher! I want another try with those!"
Saria ended up declaring loudly, gathering all of the pages she previously used and grabbing the whole stack of them with both hands.
"Student Vallhall, that's perfectly fine, but please be careful. Infuse only a single page at a ti…"
The teacher didn't seem to mind, although she did issue a warning, or at least was in the middle of it when…
*tssssss* *whooo*
"?"
The stack of papers in Saria's hands started smoking, and the blissfully ignorant girl glanced at it briefly the moment a lick of murky, blackish-red flame showed up between the pages.
The teacher, though, reacted instantly.
"GREATER WATER SPHERE! STUDENT VALLHALL, DROP IT! EVERYONE GET AWA…!"
Her eyes widened, and she activated a 6th tier spell around the ignited pages even before shouting commands for the student to evacuate.
"?!?!"
Saria wouldn't react in time, but her contracted fae materialized behind her!
As the teacher even rushed in, chanting more spells, Spite's cowbell-like pull moved a bit, and from the small opening a jet-black mass gushed out, forming shadowy paws that grabbed and pulled Saria back towards safety!
"!"
Amelia was only a fraction of a second slower than Saria's fae, triggering one of her prepared spells and shielding herself and the future hero.
*WHOOO-BOOOOOM*
…and then the ignited pages, even though encased in a large sphere of water, exploded, instantly boiling the defensive spell, ripping it apart, and sending its remains in every direction!
*WHAM*
The next moment, something hit the ground hard, and the panic ensued, with scalded students scattering, running away in a literal stampede.
The table where the participants originally sat behind was broken in half, burning, as a pillar of murky, blackish-red flames was shooting towards the sky, releasing a bloodthirsty howl!
"Y-young Miss…! We need to run!"
Thanks to Amelia's spell, she and Justin remained unharmed, and the future hero called out, showing none of the traits desired of their future status...
"I-it's still under control! BUTCH!"
"At once, my master! IMPALE!"
Amelia mumbled in a trembling voice before calling out, and her contracted fae launched off her shoulder. The next moment, its androgynous voice thundered over the training ground.
At its command, three massive ice spikes erupted from the ground around the pillar of the blackish flames and pierced through it from three different sides.
*tsss*
Although the flames did not subside, the sizzling sound that resounded gave hope.
Amelia hurriedly deactivated the water and fire spells she had on standby.
She already saw what would happen with water, and it only made sense that the disturbingly colored flames would only get stronger from the same element... Same with wind, actually, leaving her with earth and ice spells that she didn't hesitate to activate.
"SHRED!"
While walls of earth rose up and covered the pillar of blackish-red flames, only for them to burn right through, the bird-like fae chirped, adding a blizzard-like gust of wind with sharp clumps of frost to the icicles and blocks of snow from Amelia's spells.
*tsss* *tsssssssss*
The murky, blackish-red flames danced and sizzled as only the ice spells seemed to have an effect on them.
It was difficult, but it could be done. The event was still under Amelia's control. She could make it go the way it did in the story!
"Butch! Go! Snow armor! Frost Armor!"
"As you command! Heart of Ice!"
Amelia roared, adding defensive spells on her contracted fae, and Butch, already well aware of its role, cheered out, adding another layer as it flew straight into flames to crush it at its source and…!
*SQEEZE*
"Gu-ghuagh…!?"
"!!!"
But then something hidden within the flames CAUGHT the bird-like fae, causing it to let out a pained gasp, and Amelia's face was drained of all color as her eyes widened with realisation.
Ice spells did work on the blackish-red flames…
Only that, Amelia and Butch's spells were far too weak to actually put up a fight...!
After all, within those flames…
"Th-that's not a monster? It's a fire deo…!"
*whoo*
Amelia shivered and muttered, noticing the distorted silhouette through the flames, but then a smudge of bluish-white flew from somewhere above, falling right into the pillar of fire.
*whoooooooo*
"GIHYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!?"
Within a heartbeat, the flames turned from murky blackish-red into bluish-white, the soothing cold replaced the scorching heat, and the howling of fire was replaced by the nightmarish screech of pain!
"...h-how...?! Th-that wasn't how it...! Ghhaghaaaahgh…!"
*CRACK*
The smoke turned into snow, and the ashes frosted over as the silhouette in the bluish-white flames curled up, shivering from the bitter cold and crying out, chattering its teeth, before breaking apart and crumbling into a pile of cloudy, shredded ice.
*crack*
"Nnn-nuggghh… Eh…? Huh? Eh…?!"
After a few seconds, the bluish-white flames subsided, and from the layer of ice and snow, Butch, Amelia's contracted fae, emerged like a budding flower breaking through the frost, chirping out with confusion.
Even at a glance, Amelia could say it had no idea how it survived and definitely wasn't the one behind the bluish white fire.